


In Heaven

by monochromevelyn



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Future Fic, M/M, au-ish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-08
Updated: 2014-05-08
Packaged: 2018-01-24 01:09:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1586138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monochromevelyn/pseuds/monochromevelyn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Hey old man, if you could go back in time, what is the one thing you wish you would do?”</p><p>“I don’t want to repeat the same mistakes I did to someone precious to me. Or.... the things I didn’t do.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Heaven

**Author's Note:**

> This story is written based on a sad korean song, thanks to Aimee's suggestion. Thank you for being so awesome.  
> Happy bittersweet Aokaga day from me, peeps!

 

 

“Annnnnnnnnnnnd here it comes, another formless shoot! Amazing! Splendid work by the one and only Aomine Daiki, continuously pushing his team further apart from their opponent!”

The crowd’s deafening cheers annoy Aomine to no end, and the sport caster is equally as annoying in his ears. The irritation lessened when the coach turned down the TV, though he is still kind of irked that the coach decided to show the team the copy of news coverage of the match they had yesterday in the locker room just when they’re about to leave for the day like there’s no tomorrow.

Tucking in the last of his dirty towel in the bag, he slams shut his locker door; a picture of him and Kagami together tucked in one corner of the metal rattled.

“Are we done here, coach?” asks Aomine, already halfway out the door.

“Yes Daiki. Wonderful job you did there. Please continue your hard work in the future too,” nods the slightly older gentleman who’s sitting amidst other players who are still crowding in front of the television to watch yesterday’s report. “See you tomorrow.”

Aomine nods respectfully and left.

 

* * *

 

It’s five minutes to two in the morning and Aomine has been trying to sleep since three hours ago, yet it never hit him. By the aid of dimly lit table lamp, he keeps on glancing at the date on the alarm clock next to his bed, wanting the day to be over soon even though it just started. No matter how tired he is as well as no amount of alcohol he consumed can help him forget what happened today, three years ago. The emptiness of the bed and the room is too big to notice, and the person he long to hear, see and touch is not there next to him anymore. 

Every time he closes his eyes, the image of Kagami leaving for work, the words he said as he walked out the door crosses his mind.

_“Aomine...I’m leaving,” said Kagami as he got on his feet after putting on his shoes, holding on to the door handle and smiled in Aomine’s general direction. “I’ll be back really soon, so...”_

_Standing in front of the door with on a piece of towel wrapped around his waist Aomine scowled, towelling off his wet hair. “What’s gotten into you? Didn’t you say you’re already late? Yeah if my match ends early I’ll see you when you get home.”_

_“You’re right,” grinned the redhead, albeit looking somehow forced and sad as he said “I love you” before he closed to door right before Aomine’s face._

Who would’ve thought that it would be his last words to Aomine.

Aomine tosses himself into another position, another feeble attempt to shake his thoughts, to let the wave of sleep to finally hit him and knock him unconscious from feeling the pain of remembrance.

If only he had known.

If only he had said something back to Kagami that day.

If only he had shown how he felt about Kagami instead of thinking there’d always be a tomorrow for it.

But Aomine’s luck runs out; Kagami didn’t make it through another day.

Shifting back to lie on his back, Aomine tosses his arm to cover his eyes. If he thought he can block all those recurring thoughts with that action, he has certainly never been more wrong.

Kagami’s sweet smiling face is a dream he wanted to see again but it became a haunting nightmare that keeps him awake at night.

Some of the witnesses said Kagami purposely walked into an oncoming traffic while some said Kagami was too occupied with a phone in his ear and a paper bag full of groceries to notice a car speeding his way.

Aomine doesn’t want to believe either way.

He refused to believe that the last call made by Kagami to him, the one that he missed because he was out there playing in a match had cost the redhead his life. He won the match that day, but he lost something bigger, something that is irreplaceable.

And to think that Kagami would purposely walk into an oncoming traffic is utterly absurd.

It wasn’t like he was unhappy or anything.

_He probably was._

Aomine punches his forehead to kill that little voice in his brain that has been slowly driving him crazy, the guilt is eating his sanity away.

After they graduated from school, both of them went for a tryout to play basketball for Japan. It was a gruesome process and after fighting their way to earn the spot, he made it into the team.

Kagami didn’t.

It was ridiculous considering how perfect Kagami’s play was; he was practically as good as Aomine. But they don’t need two people filling in for the same role and despite trying to stand on an equal ground, Aomine is always ahead of him, and only the best one is cut out to be in the team. Aomine wanted to reject the offer but Kagami stopped him, saying that he should play on the behalf of both of them, that this is his, their dream. Kagami told him that they could always play together afterwards, their usual one-on-ones; as the best play would come from them opposing each other, not being in a team together.

After much persuasion Aomine faltered, striding heavily into the court, leaving behind the person he wanted to enjoy the rush of adrenaline of beating strong opponents on international level with the most in his shadow.

Then Kagami found a job at the fire department while Aomine play for Japan; it worked out well. At first. With the salary Aomine’s making, they moved into a bigger house together. Aomine became a formidable player, his name is constantly on the lips of his opponents. With Kagami by his side supporting him, he couldn’t be any happier.

However, since Aomine became a star player, their relationship suffered. Again and again Aomine had to leave Kagami behind for the matches across the world, sometimes during the important time of the year and even though Kagami wasn’t complaining, Aomine knew he was disappointed. Once or twice Kagami followed him to support him, but Kagami had his own life too; his job, his colleagues, people apart from Aomine in his life. They did not have a fall out, but the distance kept growing bigger and bigger and bigger...until one day it stopped growing.

Not because he worked his way to close in the distance, but because Kagami’s no longer there, and the distance turns into a bottomless trench that is nothing but darkness all around.

Having come to terms that he can never keep his menacing thoughts at bay, Aomine decided to spring into a pair of sweatshirt and go for a run around the neighbourhood. Maybe then he is tired enough to completely pass out until morning comes.

An hour later, fifteen blocks away and back to his neighbourhood, Aomine is out of breath, but he is nowhere near being tired enough to black out for the entire night. If anything, he’s more awake than ever. He walked into a convenient store to get some drinks to quench his thirst and later cool down as he walks home. Then maybe, hopefully he can get some sleep.

As he lines up at the counter to pay for his Pocari, a boy that is barely half his size is standing in front of the counter too, not to pay but to stare at the big swirly lollipop on display. Aomine looked around for the parents of this child, but as the person that was standing in front of him walked out of the store after paying for his midnight snacks, there’s nobody but him, the boy and the teenage girl who’s standing at behind the register looking annoyed by the presence of the kid. Glancing at the raven-haired boy again, looking as though he is infatuated with the colourful piece of candy, Aomine took one and paid for it along with his drinks.

“Here you go,” says Aomine, handing the lollipop to the boy, whose eyes immediately light up, practically twinkling by the act of kindness shown to him.

Aomine walked out, sat on a bench outside the store and almost drain all his drinks in one go when the same boy appears next to him. Such stunt doesn’t surprise him as much anymore thanks to Kuroko.

“Hey old man, if you could go back in time, what is the one thing you wish you would do?”

His eyes scanned boy from top to bottom, trying to find a clue as to who is this kid and why is he asking such a weird question. There’s no clue whatsoever. He answered the boy with the first thing that comes to his mind.

“I don’t want to repeat the same mistakes I did to someone precious to me. Or.... the things I didn’t do.”

“Hmmm,” nods the boy understandingly.

“Why are...” Aomine’s word comes to a sudden halt as he turned to see that the boy is no longer there. It spooks him out when he looks around for the sign of him but there’s none.

Aomine convinced himself that he is tired and he is just seeing things because of it. Tossing the trash in the bin nearby without sparing a glance, he got on his feet and starts to walk back home.

 

* * *

 

Aomine is pretty sure he had already slammed the alarm shut in the wee hour as it blasted off, waking the entire neighbourhood in the process. It was almost morning when he finally had gotten the sleep he needed and he isn’t going to let anybody interrupt him. To hell with morning practice, he’ll give the coach a call later today to call in sick. But even with another pillow pressing his face, the blasphemy of a sound continues to resound throughout the entire house. Throwing on a white shirt as he sauntered to the front door, Aomine is enraged and ready to explode. He is so going to break open his or her face if this is another door-to-door sale attempt.

Except it isn’t.

In the doorway stood Kagami; an apologetic smile stretches across his face as he carries two paperbags of grocery in his arms. If there was a meteor falling behind him right now, he wouldn’t have noticed. His gaze is focused solely on the redhead; that chestnut eyes, that curled up lips, that tall protective figure in front of him. Aomine’s eyes went wide from shock, his jaw agape.

“Sorry Aomine, I was planning to make you breakfast while you’re asleep but we run out of stuff so I went to buy some. And I forgot to bring my key and my phone so uh,” running out of words to say, Kagami just grinned.

One solid minute has passed as Aomine continue on staring at Kagami in disbelieve without a word, while Kagami who seems annoyed by the action just pushes Aomine aside to enter the house and walk straight into the kitchen.

Aomine slapped himself and pinched the inner portion of his arm. It hurts. This isn’t a dream.

He chases after Kagami into the kitchen and grabbed him by the shoulder to look at him again, feeling his face, running his hands along the well-defined muscles on Kagami’s arms. It’s firm. It feels real. It’s warm. Aomine’s eyes rounded wide for the second time that morning when he saw the calendar hanging on the wall behind Kagami. He let go of Kagami to flick through it, making certain of what he is seeing.

It’s August 2011 again.

Before he fell into bed last night he was certain that it was early September 2014. He dreaded it, he strained himself to make it through another day, he tried to shove away the recurring smile that haunts him in his dreams.

“What the hell is wrong with you, Ahomine?! Did you see a ghost or something?”

But Kagami is there in flesh, albeit with no smile and looking confused as ever. Aomine is back in time before his life became empty.

Unable to stop himself, Aomine tackled hug Kagami and the slightly shorter male staggered backward from the impact; but giving up in trying to understand Aomine’s behaviour, he recoils and wrap his arms around Aomine, burying his face amidst the blue locks as one of his hands runs up and down along his spine.

It’s August 2011 again, and Aomine is determined to make things right.

 

* * *

 

Waking up with the heavy sensation of a man using his shoulder as pillow feels so extraterrestrial to Aomine after a long time. After Kagami had gone from his life, if there was no basketball, he would have no absolute reason to wake up in the morning. He thought of pulling the same stunt he did after his Teikou era, but Kagami words – that it is his, their dream – has been the one that keep him from giving up; put on that jersey and shoot balls into hoops. It is his job, his mean of living, the only thing that’s keeping him alive.

It’s unholy how Kagami looks like when he is sleeping; drools rolling off his mouth and onto Aomine’s shoulder, legs tangled up with Aomine’s, hands that sometimes scratches Aomine’s stomach in the middle of the night subconsciously. Yet this is how he likes him. With walls down and defenceless, the amount of trust Kagami has on Aomine is bizarre.  The blanket he kicked in the middle of the night barely covers the lower half of his naked body, and Aomine runs the tip of his fingers along the fair skin up and down as his attention fled elsewhere.

The way they made love last night was sensational.

Nothing can ever compare to the way Kagami touch him; both physically and emotionally. He is the stupid Ahomine while he is the idiot Bakagami and the way they had loved each other since high school is destructively beautiful in Aomine’s eyes. Letting it slip away in the first place was foolish of him. Now that he has gotten a second chance to make amends, he’s not going to let it go to waste.

“Aomine, it tickles,” mutters the redhead groggily against Aomine’s tanned skin, heavy with sleep. Aomine stifles a laugh and further quicken the pace of his fingers, forcing Kagami to catch Aomine’s hand mid action and stop it by pressing it against his hips. “Stop.”

“Don’t wanna,” retorts Aomine teasingly.

“I’m going to bite your hand if I have to.”

Aomine slipped the word ‘try me’ and the next thing he knows is the pain of teeth sinking into his knuckle.  “I can’t believe you’d actually do that!”

“Told you not to disturb my sleep,” as soon as he finishes his sentence, Kagami suddenly jolts upright that it suprises Aomine too. Kagami winces as pain from last night still lingers on his lower back, but his eyes are glued to the alarm clock before the gaze is shifted towards the azure eyes. “Aomine, don’t you have a practice match to go to?”

“I sent a text to my coach that I sprained my ankle so I can’t play today,” says Aomine nonchalantly as he pulls the redhead back into his embrace and lie in bed with him. “They’d want me in my tip top condition for the real deal so the coach said I can take 3 days off.”

Already wide awake for sleep, Kagami propped himself up on Aomine’s chest to look at him. “But you don’t have a sprained ankle.”

“But I do have sprained back, because I had to keep going _harder_ last night,” smirks Aomine which in turn made Kagami’s face flushes with color. He’s glad he still has that effect on him after all these years. “Maybe you should call in sick too. No, no scratch that. You _must_ call in sick.”

Kagami brows come together in a knit. “And what do I tell them?”

“That you have spastic colon,” answers Aomine in a deadly serious tone.

“Gross.”

“It is, so they won’t ask you questions about it. I’m a genius, eh?”

Kagami shakes his head and deep laughter rumbles through his chest. How long has it been since Kagami laughed like that?

“I’ll try, but there’s no guarantee. What are we going to do with the free time, anyway?”

“Basketball. More basketball. Sex. More sex. Maybe a vacation.  Oh oh and food. More of your food. Speaking of food, Kagami I want teriyaki chicken. I want it now, I’m hungry.”

“But it’s morning.”

“So?”

“Nobody eats teriyaki chicken for breakfast.”

“Then I am nobody.”

Utter confusion crosses Kagami’s face. “What?”

“You said nobody eats chicken teriyaki for breakfast, so I am nobody.”

Kagami laughs again, and this time he wrap his arms around Aomine’s neck and kisses his jaw line before tucking his face in the crook of his shoulder. “You’re weird today.”

“What do you mean weird, you idiot,” Aomine raises his hand to run his fingers through the locks of red, savouring the musky morning scent and holding tight to what he has at the moment; the only thing that matters.

 

* * *

 

Kagami’s spastic colon managed to get him 3 days off too and they did just what Aomine said he wanted them to do – go for a vacation, play more basketball, have more sex and eat more food, well Aomine’s eating and Kagami’s cooking mostly, but that’s how they usually went about anyway.

Aomine didn’t have anything specific in mind when he said that they should go for a vacation but Kagami said it has been a while since they last went to the beach, so Aomine pulled all of the strings he has and made it happen.

As he lay on his back on the sand with his head rested against his arm, he can’t help but to think Kagami looks beautiful most when he smiles, when he laughs. Aomine isn’t much of a surfer so watching Kagami doing one of the things he is great at is good enough for him. Kagami smiles the brightest when he does the things he loves; when he plays basketball, when he cooks, when he surfs.

At the end of their short road trip to Hokkaido, he realizes that he is one of the reasons for bright smiles too, and he intends to keep it that way forever.

Aomine is snapped out of his reverie when the sunlight is shaded by a figure hovering over his face. The outline of him is enough for Aomine to tell that it is the redhead that has been occupying his mind. Water from his wet suit has been dripping on his face but Kagami couldn’t care less about it and just grinned away. “You look so serious, what are you thinking about?”

Wiping the salty water off his face, Aomine shot him a look that goes straight into his soul. “You.”

“Really?” asks Kagami again, the grin on his face grew wider.“What about me?”

Kagami sat on the sand next to him and Aomine brought himself to sit too, sitting so close that their shoulders are touching. He stares at his heels for a moment, steeling his determination as he harps out only the necessary words.

“Marry me, Kagami.”

Clearly not expecting what Aomine had just said, Kagami stutters, jaw almost dropping on the silvery sand. “W- wh, what? W -why? Most importantly - how?”

Finally comprehending what he had just done, Aomine’s heart starts to beat uncontrollably, but he stays calm on the surface and grabbed both Kagami’s hands into his before looking into his eyes.

“Stupid Bakagami, when a person asks to marry you, you need to answer a yes or a no, not ask more questions! I know this is sudden and I don’t even have a ring prepared but,” Aomine laces their fingers together and swallows the hard lump that suddenly appears in his throat, “I love you, I want you to know it and I want to prove it to you. Forget about the minor details of how and when. This is a big step, I know, I am scared too, but please...please say yes.”

Aomine closes his eyes as he wait for the final answer; he hasn’t been this scared in a very long time. The time moves in slow motion and the dread of waiting is killing him on the inside.

“What makes you think I’m gonna say no?”

Eyes shot open at the genuinely honest remark; Aomine is at loss for words. “I...”

Already missing the warmth of his touch as Kagami slowly loosened Aomine’s grip on his hands, the redhead cups his face and planted a lingering kiss on his lips. “Yes.”

“Yes?”

“Yes.”

Once again Aomine leaped onto Kagami, sending him tumbling down on the soft sand. He knew that Kagami isn’t big on the public display of affection, but this is special moment and he sure Kagami doesn’t mind. Aomine literally overwhelmed the redhead with smooches and kisses all over his face; his forehead, nose, cheeks, eyes, chin, and his lips. He has long accepted the fact that he is one big ball of sap when it comes to Kagami and right now he is as happy as he can ever be he feel like he’s about to burst.

“I can’t believe you surprised me when I am the one who should be surprising you,” says Kagami light-heartedly as he try hard to fend off another kiss by palming off Aomine’s face. “Am I a birthday gift from you for yourself?”

Aomine’s mood sunk at the realization that it is his birthday – the 31st of August – the end of the month – and a mark that a new month is going to start. But he’s quick to regain himself; so that Kagami won’t sense that something is wrong. His lips curled into a smile and morphed into a grin.

“Yeah, because the only one that can surprise me is me.”

 

* * *

 

“Aomine, come here!”

Kagami’s mildly husky voice from the end of the vegetable aisle jolts Aomine out of his trance and he races to his side, pushing a large trolley filled with dry and wet cooking ingredients in it. He stops short next to the redhead and his hand is conveniently placed in his back pocket. Aomine smirks as he publicly groping his boyfr –  fiancé, which then get swatted away with a scowl by the redhead. Worth it.

“Carrot or zucchini. Pick.”

“What for?”

“Just pick.”

“Ehh it doesn’t really matter, does it? I don’t eat vegetables,” Aomine dug his ear with his pinky finger and blows it in Kagami’s general direction although there’s nothing to blow.

“You want to eat all the vegetables? Okay,” retorts Kagami annoyingly as he proceeded to put both vegetables in plastics and head to the the weighing counter. “Go grab some milk before we head out to the checkout counter. The one we have in the fridge expires today.”

Half sulking that Kagami is forcing him to eat vegetables for the 9887632284920th time, Aomine pushes the trolley with him out of the vegetable aisle to the large fridge by the end wall with various brands of milk and cheese.

Whenever he’s alone, Aomine can’t stop himself from thinking about the date. Almost a week has passed since his birthday, the proposal, and tomorrow would be the 7th of September – the date Aomine had been dreading for the past 3 years before he had gotten the second chance to atone to what he did and didn’t.

Mindlessly picking up a large carton of the usual brand of milk they drink, Aomine jumped a little as he is taken aback by the sudden appearance of a little boy in white suit, leaning against the glass door of the fridge while licking a lollipop.

“You’re that boy...”

“It’s nice to see you happy,” smiles the boy genuinely at Aomine. “Your boyfriend looks happy too. Cherish the precious time that you’ve been given.”

“What are you saying?”

“Going back to the past will not change the future. Please don’t forget that,” Aomine looked away for a second as Kagami called for him and not even a moment later, he is already gone.

 

* * *

 

It’s ridiculous how weird Aomine has been acting lately. Not just weird...he is being more loving too? Overprotective even, especially today. Kagami can’t seem to comprehend where his baseless fear is coming from that he has to keep Kagami locked up in the house, convincing him that he is sick even though he is not. Aomine even called up his superior to tell the officer that he can’t make it to work today.

_"I need to keep you safe. Especially today. No question's asked."_

As he sits on his couch flipping channels in his sweatshirt and a blanket wrapped around him like he is really sick, his mind wandered about the change of behaviour in the blue-haired male.

Kagami isn’t complaining, really. It’s really been a while since they loved like this; spending time together like they are conjoint twins at the hips, silly fights and blazing kisses, staying up all night long making love to each other. After Aomine started playing for Japan they’ve grown apart because of his busy schedule, but it all doesn’t matter now. Kagami is glad that the Aomine is there for him again, though it’s not all the time, it is more than he used to.

Two hours flew by and Kagami is bored out of his mind when he noticed that the bunch of white daisies on the coffee table is starting to wilt.

_A quick run to the flower shop won’t hurt._

Ditching the blanket, out of his sweatshirt and into a pair of jeans, Kagami is set out to find a fresh bouquet of flower before Aomine gets home from an important match.

He closed the door behind him, failing to notice that he left his phone on the kitchen counter.

 

* * *

 

This is Aomine’s ninth time trying to call Kagami during the span of the halftime, but it remained unanswered. His teammates keep interrupting him to have a team strategy meeting, but Aomine couldn’t care less about it at all.

The halftime is over.  Another one of his calls just went into the voicemail. His eyes darted towards the electronic scoreboard on the wall above the bleachers.

_16:53_

Aomine flipped his phone close and tosses it to the closest person next to him as he bows to all his teammates.

The next thing they knew is Aomine is out the door and gone from their line of sight.

 

* * *

 

Kagami is enjoying his walk on a not so hot afternoon and mild breeze is coming down from the hilly area, blowing softly in his face as he is slowly striding his way back home after getting what he needed. In his arms is a bouquet of tiny little baby’s breath amidst some of the large red daisies. He isn’t much of a flower guy but he knows how to appreciate beauty when he sees one.

* * *

 

 

 

Aomine gave his all as he run to the scene just like he did before, but this time round he is determined to stop the accident from happening again. He stops to catch his breath when he saw Kagami approaching the zebra crossing; still safe and sound. 

His relieved sigh is cut short by the screeching tires of high speed car bolting through the road.

 

* * *

 

The moment Kagami reaches the zebra crossing, the light turns into green and he quicken his pace – not putting any second thought to look for an oncoming car before crossing.

But there it is, a car coming at him at its top speed even though it is supposed to be a red light for it. One of it swerved to the side but another one from behind it didn’t make it in time to avoid the redhead that is halfway crossing the street. Everything’s happened too fast – the flashing of green light, the oncoming car, the bouquet strewn across the street, and the sudden jolt as somebody jumped at him out of the way of the traffic.

It doesn’t hurt.

He doesn’t feel anything.

Everything turns colourless before he is basked in white light all around him.

 

* * *

 

When Kagami open his eyes again, he is standing in front of a big, heavily decorated two pieces of heavenly door, and at that moment, he remembers everything. The sensation of fingers interlacing his takes his attention away from his own mind.

Looking at the familiar blue locks next to him, his heart is heavy with emotion but a sad tiny curl made its way on Kagami’s lips.

“I’m sorry, Aomine.”

“Don’t be,” says Aomine as the hold on his hand tightens. “I am where I’m supposed to be.”

Kagami gives him a firm squeeze. “In heaven?”

Aomine shakes his head with a pure blissful smile stretching across his face. “By your side.”

 

THE END

**Author's Note:**

> This story is unbeta-ed and I'm kinda suck at using present tense in a story so if there's something inconsistent please tell me about it. Kudos and comments are highly appreciated! :)


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